Ever since Rin arrived in Misaki City, she had never given up on preparing for the Tohno Family. The initial reason for taking over Misaki's underground forces and forming the Rose Group was also because of this.
Destroying the Tohno Family and rescuing the tragic Wuneng Twins, Kohaku and Hisui, was something Rin, determined to rewrite all tragedies, had to do! No one asked her; she simply followed her heart, bound by duty.
For Tohno Shinkyu, that complete scumbag who laid hands on an eight-year-old child, Rin harbored absolute hatred. The originally quiet and obedient Kohaku, after nearly a decade of his abuse, had transformed into a vengeful witch with "no expression other than a smile"! Rin could not let such an existence go unpunished!
But Rin had not made a move since forming the Rose Group, waiting for an opportunity: the Tohno Family's complete military vulnerability! She intended to use this chance to thoroughly eradicate the Tohno Family once and for all!
This opportunity was: "Tohno Shinkyu's Operation to Annihilate the Nanaya Clan!"
In the original work/canon, Tohno Shinkyu, fearing that the Nanaya Clan, one of the four great demon-slaying families neighboring him, would pose a threat to him and the Tohno Family, who possessed demon blood, launched a full-scale surprise attack one day in 1989! He wiped out the entire Nanaya Family in one fell swoop.
The unprepared Nanaya Clan, after a hasty resistance, was completely annihilated, leaving only one clan leader's son: Nanaya Shiki. Tohno Shinkyu, in a completely incomprehensible move, adopted him, renamed him Tohno Shiki, and publicly declared him his eldest son.
Damn it. Wiping out the entire Nanaya Clan, then adopting the Nanaya orphan as his godson, and even claiming him as his biological son to the public. I don't know what kind of twisted thought process that old scoundrel Tohno Shinkyu had to pull off such a ridiculous stunt.
No matter how much that "Shiki-kun" resembled his biological son, no matter how many abundant reasons and melodramatic emotional entanglements there were, Rin's evaluation of his action was only four words: What! The! Hell! Idiot!
And without a doubt, the Tohno Family was at its most vulnerable when they launched their full-scale surprise attack. The reason for the sudden attack might also have been to resolve it quickly and return to defense immediately.
At this time, the entire Tohno Family could be said to have no effective combat power. The strongest fighter, Hazama Kurenai, was dispatched to deal with the Nanaya Clan leader, Nanaya Kouri. To ensure the thoroughness of the operation, the family's private armed forces were also all sent out. At this point, the only one in the Tohno Family who could be considered a combatant was that damned old scoundrel, Tohno Shinkyu.
Hazama Kurenai might give me a headache, but Tohno Shinkyu, hehe... The demon blood of the Tohno Family merely enhances their physique, bringing their muscular strength, skin defense, movement speed, mental reflexes, and a series of other physical qualities to a superhuman level, making them existences akin to Dead Apostles. As for Tohno Akiha, who awakened her origin and activated her abilities, she is a unique and singular case.
To put it bluntly, in the Mystic World, the Tohno Family's abilities are simply not up to par. They are merely a type of superpower, leaning towards the inhuman side. Tohno Family members generally do not live long, and their causes of death vary (including madness, accidents, murder, disappearance, difficult childbirth, etc.). Also, because their power comes from bloodline purity, their post-natal improvement is quite limited.
For such a family ability—simple in system, singular in mode, with huge negative impacts, easily losing control and backfiring, and difficult to improve—apart from aberrations like Hazama Kurenai, who is almost pure demon blood, truly high-ranking Maguss would not even give them a second glance. And Rin, having already ascended to the Color rank, definitely qualifies as one of this group.
Even if Rin were to storm the Tohno Family alone, directly confronting Hazama Kurenai and Tohno Shinkyu, and forcibly breaking out with the Wuneng sisters, it would not be impossible. One could say, at this point, there is at least a fifty percent chance of success, and even if it doesn't succeed, she could definitely retreat unscathed. However, this would inevitably expose magic to the mundane world, violating a fundamental rule of the Mystic World, and at that time, the Church and the Mage's Association would certainly both make trouble.
That tea would not be easy to drink… At that time, we would split into two groups. I would take a small portion to the Tohno Family to rescue people and incidentally take care of Tohno Shinkyu. The problem is, who should the other portion, the team going to support the Nanaya Clan, be entrusted to? The battle between Hazama Kurenai and Nanaya Kouri is not something just anyone can intervene in. If Hazama Kurenai sees the situation is bad and runs away, and no one can stop him, that won't do.
Rin decided that if she was going to destroy the Tohno Family, she would destroy it completely. She wanted that old scoundrel Tohno Shinkyu to fail in his forceful attempt and get screwed instead, to try a one-shot strategy only to be wiped out. Not only Kohaku and Hisui, but also Akiba. Rin wanted all the assets, shares, connections, and various resources of the entire Tohno Family! And she wanted to conceal her Mystic side power under the cover of a firefight, defining this incident as a "conflict between mundane world underground forces."
"Tohno Shinkyu making such a big fuss and coming and going like the wind, he is undoubtedly seriously challenging the authority of the Misaki district's administrator. In that case…" Rin murmured to herself for a while, then picked up her phone:
"moshi moshi (hello), hey, someone's causing trouble, prepare to grab your weapons and fight... Hey, hey, hey! Alice, don't hang up, it's me! Is Aoko there? I'm looking for her."
"Aoko, it's for you."
On the other side, at the Kuonji residence, Alice expressionlessly handed the phone to Aoko, who was standing nearby, chewing on bread and preparing to go to school. Aoko mumbled with the bread in her mouth: "Hello, who is it? What's up? Speak quickly."
"It's me, your dearest master~~"
"Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…"
"…"
Aoko's hand had not yet retracted after hanging up the phone, when the old rotary dial phone rang again.
"Hello! What do you want?!"
"Someone's trashing your turf, are you going to do something about it?"
"Who is it?! Which of the 27 Ancestors?!... What, a gunfight? You're calling me for such a small matter? What are you good for? Are your subordinates, who haven't been handed over to the state, just freeloading?"
"Ordinary street gunfights are fine, but this time it's a big fish. Are you going to handle it? If you don't, I'll just have to work a bit harder running back and forth, but the subsequent cover-up task will be left to you."
"Who is it, tell me?"
"That old geezer Tohno Shinkyu is getting worse with age, needlessly worrying that the Nanaya Clan will wipe out his family, so he plans to strike first and wipe out the entire Nanaya Family. I don't know if he submitted an application form to you for such a major event?"
"Hmm? Is that old bastard getting restless from having too good a life? Just wait, I'm going to raid the Tohno Family right now."
"He's currently assembled six or seven hundred armed men, each equipped with a submachine gun. For the sake of our past master-disciple relationship, I'll send people to assemble your body neatly and cremate it in one go."
Aoko, who was holding the phone with her shoulder and tidying her clothes, visibly froze, a black line appearing on her face as she said: "…Forget it, tell me how to do it."
"Correct, as expected, you're on the right track, worthy of being the disciple I poured my heart and soul into cultivating. I plan to use this opportunity to take out the Tohno Family once and for all. From now on, the Tohno Group will take my surname!"
"Playing such a big game, by the way, what's your surname now?"
"…Don't worry about that."
"If you really can't think of one, you can take my surname aozaki when you register your household."
"Get lost. The specific time is undecided, as I can't get inside information, but I've already arranged for people to monitor. The moment Tohno Shinkyu moves, I'll receive the news immediately. At that time, I'll divide my people into two parts. You take ninety percent to support the Nanaya Clan. I'll also notify Nanaya Kouri in advance. You and he just need to take down Hazama Kurenai, who's leading the team. I'll take the remaining ten percent to raid the Tohno Family."
"Sounds pretty good, I go fight and you raid the house… Hmm, not bad, not bad."
"Alright, that's it. Starting tonight, come to my place after school. I've already instructed my people to gather and be ready to move at any time."
"Okay, got it."
Rin hung up the phone. Well, the muscle is in place now~
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